Craig Kimbrel begins his leisurely, purposeful jog across right field, headed to the mound.

Upstairs, in the Braves radio booth, play-by-play broadcaster Jim Powell offers a confession.

"I admit I pack the power cord to my laptop as he comes through the bullpen gate," Powell says.

Kimbrel's in.

It's over.

The 24-year-old Atlanta relief pitcher and Huntsville native set a record for most saves by a rookie in 2011 and was unanimous NL Rookie of the Year. Now he's in the middle of a sensational encore.

"Everybody says 'sophomore slump' and all that kind of stuff," Kimbrel says. "That really wasn't in my head. It was how can I get better."

Which he has done.

Once again he was named to the National League All-Star team (Tuesday in Kansas City, 6:30 p.m. on Fox). Going into today's game at Philadelphia, he had a league-high 24 saves with 54 strikeouts in 32 innings. He has failed to close a save situation only once all year.

"Kimbrel is the most dominant closer in the game right now," Powell says.

"He's been terrific," says Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez. "If there's a better word than that, we can use it."

"Every time that guy goes out there, as long as we go to the ninth inning ahead, we feel like we can win the game," Braves starting pitcher Mike Minor says.

From May 8 until June 27, Kimbrel had a 17-game scoreless streak and opponents had only three hits in 55 at-bats. He struck out 28, right at half the batters he faced.

That streak was rudely interrupted by a ninth-inning homer by Arizona's Chris Young on June 28, the first home run Kimbrel allowed all season.

"Man, he's human," teammate Martin Prado told reporters after the game, sounding as surprised as he did defensive.

At last year's All-Star break, Kimbrel had 28 saves and a 2.35 ERA, with 70 strikeouts. He was 2-2 and in the middle of a streak of 37 2/3 scoreless innings with 25 consecutive converted save opportunities.

But as similar as the statistics may be, he's a different pitcher, technique-wise.

"He's gotten a ton better over the last year or so," Minor says. "He's really locating now. He's throwing that hard and hitting corners and throwing breaking balls in the dirt and throwing them for strikes when he wants to."

"I'm able to throw my off-speed pitch, my curveball, for strikes more often this year," Kimbrel says. "Even if it's a nasty pitch and I can't throw it for strikes, a hitter is going to cancel that out and just look for the fastball. I've done a lot better job this year throwing my curveball for strikes and getting ahead in the count with it."

And, laughs Butch Weaver, his former coach at Lee High School, "it helps to be able to throw it 98 (mph), doesn't it?"

Weaver sees him "pitching with more confidence" this year, knowing that Kimbrel was naturally a little nervous during his rookie season.

"He's matured to where he's feeling comfortable with those great hitters," Weaver says.

That's a comfort level that's become contagious.

Craig's parents, Mike and Sandy, don't miss a game on TV, and still frequently travel to Atlanta. They've been busy with their other sons, Alan and Matt. Alan is a student at North Alabama, and Matt was recently drafted by the Braves; they should know later this week where he'll be headed.

Sandy says "we're a little more settled-in this year," but notes that Craig's stardom is "still kind of surreal."

They're settled-in enough to where she sheepishly admits she fell asleep during a recent game and all but missed Craig's ninth-inning shutdown of the opponent.

Weaver says "last year I was up and pacing. I was with him on every pitch. Now I see his confidence level is there, I've settled down."

"I'm a year older. I've learned a lot just by being on the field, situations I've been in," Kimbrel says, sitting in the searing heat in the Braves dugout on a recent afternoon.

"I feel like I've grown up as a baseball player and grown up as a person. I'm kind of in a role where I was forced to do that. And if I didn't do that, I wouldn't have my job right now."

Right now, nobody in baseball is doing that job better.

Contact Mark McCarter at mark.mccarter@htimes.com and follow him on Twitter @markmccarter

Here's a look at where Craig Kimbrel's stats stack up this season, going into Saturday's game, compared with the All-Star break a year ago: